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Friday, August 31, 2012

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

Family Feud

Remember that TV game show? You can play it on pogo.com! I have to learn to not be so analytical of my answers and just say whatever pops into my head. For example, one of the one questions was "Name a cartoon character who got yelled at a lot." The answers were: Bugs Bunny, Sylvester, Bart Simpson, Alvin and one more I don't remember now. My answers weren't even there (Fred Flinstone and George Jetson). Although I thought of Bugs Bunny and Sylvester, I didn't think they got yelled at so didn't submit them as answers. Didn't even think of Bart Simpson and Alvin although I should have. It was fun playing though.

Navy Week

Sea Horse

This was Navy Week in Cleveland and some sailors were at the aquarium when we were there Monday. Below is a video of our trip through the aquarium. For more pictures and details, follow the aquarium link to my post about it.

Out of Business

The Parma Theater Will Close in September (within walking distance from our house). We only went a few times but there were only about ten people there. I don't know how it stayed in business this long! The only movies I remember watching there were Shrek and "We Bought A Zoo" which I really liked.

Gorged Myself

We found Mickey Mouse at the game when looking for bakery to buy with our $5.

At the Indians game yesterday, I ate WAY too much and felt like a stuffed turkey on Thanksgiving! We had the free food seats and it was all so good. Plus, it was a nice distraction from the game we lost by 6 runs I think. My sister and brother-in-law went with us which gave us some time to catch up. Okay, back to eating--I had roast beef, macaroni, 2 hamburgers, 2 slices of pizza and 2 bowls of ice cream: French Vanilla and Moose Tracks. It was a beautiful day and for the most part we were in the shade so weren't too hot. I would have liked more ice cream, but was too full. When we got home, I made myself walk with Gerard and our dog for about an hour and then flopped on the bed for about half an hour. I was wiped out.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Gerard and I have been married for 15 years now! After blogging for six years, it's kind of hard to come up with new ideas for our anniversary post, but I think I did.

One of our favorite wedding gifts is a book which gives spaces for one picture a year, lines for filling in memorable moments that happened each year, with a marriage related quote for the year--that is until after the 15th anniversary. We just discovered that after 15 years, it jumps by 5-yr. intervals!

Apparently, they don't think as much happens in later years of marriage or else so few couples actually make it over 15 years these days. It also lists the traditional and modern suggested wedding anniversary gifts which we pretty much ignore. But again, after 15, it just lists every 5th year.

I thought you might enjoy seeing the quotes but instead of listing them all together in this one post, I will start sharing one a week on the sidebar or above my posts.

Today we are going to an Indians game and eating all the food we want for free--it is included in the club seat tickets I got from work.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Monday we started off our vacation with our first trip to the Cleveland Aquarium. We were very impressed! I thought it would be like the one at the zoo: real dark with a bunch of fish tanks that would take about 20 minutes to go through. Boy, was I wrong! These exhibits were huge! I liked that it was just one path to go through so you didn't have to plan your route so you didn't miss anything.

Karen in the Sea Tube

These were the different area groupings: Ohio Lakes & Rivers, Exotic Freshwater (included alligators and turtles), Discovery Zone, Florida Keys, Weird & Wonderful (like a tunnel with exhibits built into the wall), Coastal, Touch Tank (Gerard touched a crab, a sea urchin and a starfish, Tropical Reef, Long Sea Tube through the shark tank which looked about four times bigger than the zoo's. Finally, of course, there was a gift shop where we purchased the picture they took of us shown above. It also had a Nautica Cafe upstairs but we skipped that.

Litter Builds Up

It has 15 sharks, more than 5,000 fish, and approximately 1 million gallons of water! In the Discovery Zone there was this display of litter showing that the cans and plastic tossed into our waterways does not just dissolve. This litter was thrown into this container back in February and it is now August.

We had a fun time and enjoyed seeing the many different fish displays. I hope you enjoy the video below. We happened to go on Navy Week when there were some special things going on. There was a diving demonstration, a robot demonstration and a concert!

I thought the grandma fish were very pretty--purple and gold. Watch for them in the video. And the horseshoe crab was in the still in the same corner when we came by the second time through!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

After reading these two conflicting reports from friends on Facebook about Guys Pizza, we broke our Sunday lunch routine to try Guys Pizza to see for ourselves how it was.

Dawn wrote: "we have a Guys in Lakewood and it is very good :)"

Elly wrote: "We tried a giant pizza called The New Yorker. It was undercooked and lacked much flavor. Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy. They had a kazillion options, so maybe their other stuff is good, but it all looked expensive to me. I also ordered a small house salad for $3.99. For that much money, I thought the "small" wouldn't be quite so small. Their idea of a "salad" is romaine lettuce, tomato slices, mozzarella cheese and croutons, and the whole thing fit in the same sized container as a quarter pounder. I'm with you Karen Zemek. I won't be spending my money there again. Papa John's thin crust has them beat hands down."

Guys Pizza is conveniently located between our church and our house so if we liked it better than Casamel's, we would be switching to get that every week. It is a cute little shop with a big parking lot that you could pull out of at a light. I noticed they had an old PacMan machine in the dining area--I used to like that game in my younger days.

I ordered a small thin crust grilled chicken pizza. I went with the small in case we didn't like it. It was okay but no "wow, this delicious" came to mind like it does when I eat Casamel's. It was only about only 8" in diameter so we each got three small slices which probably just slightly bigger than one of Casamel's medium slices.

I also ordered cinnamon sticks, since I knew we were getting small slices and would not be full with just the pizza. I didn't count them, but they were good and more than I expected. I liked the ones we got from Dominoes better. These were 3-4 inches long, much shorter than bread sticks.

Gerard said it was okay, he has no preference. For me though, I definitely prefer our small neighborhood Casamel's and I'm sticking with it as our regular pizza place.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Abby follows Gerard all over in the morning eager to go for her early morning walk. Gerard loves how she follows him everywhere. He enjoys her company even in the bathroom. Our first cat, Mr. Moe, used to watch him go through his morning routine too.

Productive

Mammogram

Just a reminder if you're over 40, get a yearly mammogram! It's a bit stressful but worth it! I was relieved to get my results saying normal/benign this week--it's just a relief.

Browns Surprised Me

I am surprised the Browns won their first to preseason games and even scoring 35 points against the mighty Packers! I realize it's just preseason but still. After hearing such gloom and doom predictions for them this season, I certainly wasn't expecting this! My hope in a .500 season has been restored!

Funny Quotes

Saturday we saw these two funny quotes, when will I learn to bring my camera along? bumper sticker: "My beagle is smarter than your honor student."

Lady's t-shirt at Giant Eagle: "You can't scare me, I have kids."

Shampoo Your Weight Away

At Comedy Plus I found out a new weight loss trick related to shampoo! Be sure to stop by for a laugh!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE--OH, AND WE'RE ON VACATION THIS WEEK--YEA!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

A few weeks ago, my husband needed a new toothbrush. He had seen a commercial on TV for a vibrating toothbrush and it looked real nice. He thought it was too expensive so got an Oral-B push button kind with an on/off switch. He came home all excited about it with one for me too--there were two in the package. I said I prefer my normal manual one, no thanks.

He liked it at first, but then after a few days, a couple of his teeth started really hurting. He drank a ton of water and that seemed to help for a time. No way did he want to go to the dentist. He started leaving the vibrating off and used it just like a normal brush and guess what. No more pain! Yea! He learned that it's best to go manual. He brushes twice a day, morning and night.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

I remember how I used to like getting new school supplies right before school started every year: brand new notebooks, assorted colored folders, pens and even new clothes.

Well, our "Circle of Friends" Bible study group at Parma Heights Baptist Church is starting a new study on the Book of Job and I'm excited! It's the kind where each person digs in through the week and outlines the chapter, thinks of a title, studies the key words, lists truths about God, Job, Satan and then discuss questions and share our insights on Sunday. I really hope everyone takes the time to do the study on their own so we can have a great time of sharing what we learned. The book we are using that has daily assignments for study is Trusting God in Times of Adversity--Job by Kay Arthur and Pete DeLacy. There is a whole list of books in this New Inductive Study Series!

Last week was the introduction when we were told what supplies we would need: The Bible, a 3-ring binder notebook, and colored pens or pencils for marking in the Bible. I am so excited that I found the perfect 3-ring binder with dividers AND pockets for handouts too! I was just going to go with crayons, but then I found colored pens on sale at Rite-Aid, buy one pack and get one free! I even found one of those plastic pencil cases that has the 3-hole strip for it to go into the binder--I love color coding and I am ready!

Friday, August 17, 2012

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

Laundry

The Modern Mom gave a good tip this week on how to Keep Towels Colorful. She says to add 1 cup of salt to the washing machine the first time you wash your new towels and it will help them maintain the bright color for longer. She always has interesting tips! I tried using the staple remover one to keep the ring open while adding Abby's new Canine Citizen tag to her collection and it worked!

Fun Night

I took a vacation day yesterday to get a mammogram, take Abby to get groomed and help with our church picnic for all the VBS and Sports Camp families. I had a fun time running the baseball game. It was an inflatable sports game with a different sport on each side. The baseball side had holes they were supposed to try to bat or throw the plastic balls through. The tee had air blowing through which held the ball up in the air for them to hit. We gave tickets for all the games that the children could turn in for prizes. Only a few got the balls through the holes throwing, no one got any through hitting it. We gave a ticket for playing, getting the ball through the holes, and for collecting the balls for us after their turn was over. It was a challenge keeping the kids waiting and the little toddlers from getting hit with the bat but we were successful.

Shopping Success

On my day off yesterday, I did a bit of shopping and got a light bulb and a package of 7 pens with various ink colors--both items were buy one, get one free at Rite-Aid! The ink pens I will use for the inductive Bible Study I am starting on the book of Job. The pop I actually went for isn't on sale until next week so got some Root Beer for my husband at Marc's--a 2 liter for 99 cents. I got 20% off on my printer ink at Office Max and found a pencil case that goes in a 3-ring-binder to keep all those pens in!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

During my late afternoon walk at Veterans Memorial Park in Parma, Ohio, I spotted a critter that I hadn’t seen before. It had brown fur, claws, was bigger than a cat but smaller than me. A lady nearby said she thought it might be a groundhog, but all I know is that it wasn’t afraid of me and we had a great game of chase. We even touched noses!

I was barking like crazy running after that critter, so loud that a golfer on the golf course next to the park yelled for me to stop already. I just went round and round at least five times chasing that thing. It was so much fun, but it did tire me out. I slept really well that night!

Too bad my dad didn’t have a camera with him to get a picture of me in action. My mom was a bit disappointed that she missed the whole thing. She told me that if I ever come across a black and white fury critter to leave it alone and go the other way—I’ll try to remember but I am a dog and have that hunting instinct you know. I can’t make any promises about that.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Friday night I watched the first half of the Browns-Lions preseason game and was disappointed as the Browns had lots of penalties, and four injuries including one of our key receivers in just the first half. They ended up with a total of six! They trailed at halftime and I had no hopes of them winning after what I'd seen. Then, today I look up the score and see they actually came from behind to win 19-17!

Once again our QB situation is up in the air. This year our rookie Quarterback is Weeden. He played the first quarter Friday night and ended it with an interception. I was not impressed with him, but like Colt McCoy. I really think Colt McCoy could become an excellent quarterback in the NFL and hopefully the Browns will stick with him. I suggest before the season starts that they focus on conditioning and learning the rules. The penalties really kill us!

I think people should be thankful for the replacement referees too and give them a break. I'm sure they will do their best and call things accurately--it beats no football, doesn't it?

Friday, August 10, 2012

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

Video Lag in Firefox

Sometimes we have trouble with viewing YouTube videos using our Firefox browser. They kept stopping and stalling. Hopefully the solution I found at The Older Geek: How to Stop YouTube Lag in Firefox Browser, will solve this problem. It's just a matter of changing frequency Firefox saves the open tabs for restoring.

Pet Ownership

Amish Tidbits

When reading "The Face of Heaven" by Murray Pura, I learned that the Amish do not wear wedding bands--it's not their custom. Single women have black knapps and married women have white ones. (UPDATED 8/12/12: Don't know if the knapp thing is really true or not because at the zoo Saturday we saw some little Amish girls with white knapps--I'm sure they weren't married!)

STRESS!

I'd say 99% of my stress comes from computer wars. Now I lost my Flash Player--here one morning, gone by afternoon! Trying to reinstall it but having difficulty. ARRRGH! I need this to play video and my computer games! Oh, how annoying!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

For July, we have a Science Fiction Young adult book and a Christian Fiction book. Gerard's favorite read was "Starters" by Lissa Price which Karen liked very much too so we'll give you both our reviews of it here:

Starters by Lissa Price: WOW! You will meet Callie, a young girl whose parents are dead, and her 7-yr.-old brother, Tyler, is very sick. Her only hope to get money is to rent her body out to old people to use. She really doesn't want to do it but gives in to help her brother. Everything goes fine at first, but then takes a turn for the worse! I devoured this book in just two days; kept those pages turning to see what would happen next. Can't wait for the second book to come out in December!
(Gerard's review)

Starters by Lissa Price takes place in the future but isn't too far out that it is unbelievable. After a war, people lived longer, 150 to 200 years old was common and Prime Destinations developed a way for old people to rent the body of a young person, usually a teen. I loved the idea of the old people getting a new body but keeping all their experience and knowledge. Callie decides to rent out her body for a big sum of money that would be enough to provide a home for her and her little brother who is also sickly. After three rentals, she'd get paid; however, the third rental didn't work quite right and she found herself in a terrible situation and is not sure who she can trust.

I enjoyed this book very much because of all the unexpected things that happen to Callie and the interesting concept. I thought it was a fun read and definitely recommend it! (Karen's review)

Since Gerard picked Starters as his favorite, I'll choose Unlocked by Karen Kingsbury as my favorite for July. Here is my review of it:

Unlocked by Karen Kingsbury is an inspirational and heartwarming read that I truly enjoyed! It's a love story about an Autistic high school boy, Holden, with a kind heart and a high school girl who is kind to him and notices his interest in music. I especially liked Holden's prayers and the faith He has. He became Autistic (quirky and uncommunicative) when he was three years old and his parents feel as though they lost the real Holden and want him back!

This book deals with bullying, suicide, friendship and family struggles. This is Christian fiction at its best, showing how Christians can make a difference! I highly recommend this one to teens and parents.

Monday, August 6, 2012

I only got 3 ½ hours of sleep one night because our dog, Abby, kept me awake. I felt like I was at a pajama party! She sat by my side of the bed panting loudly and putting up her paw. I didn’t want her jumping up on the bed because of her arthritis in her knees and hips so pet her up and she calmed down. As soon as I stopped petting her though, she would start up again. She acted all nervous like when it’s storming, but the weather was clear. I don’t know what to make of this, other than she just wanted my attention because she wasn’t tired and I didn’t give her a belly rub before going to bed like I usually do.

My "thunder shirt"--Karen's not-so-bright idea

The day before, she had her usual walks and even an extra one in the evening which she normally doesn’t have. I thought for sure she’d sleep well, but nope, she did not even want to lay down, which she usually prefers to sitting. My hubby slept on, pretty much oblivious to what was going on. I tried putting one of my sleeveless shirts on her, thinking maybe it would serve as a “thunder shirt” and calm her down, but it didn’t work. It slid around and after about 20 minutes, I took it off. Around 3:00 I decided to try sleeping down on the floor with her. She did lay down then, letting me gently stroke her but I still couldn’t sleep. After about an hour of that, I went back on the bed and she stayed quietly on the floor till it was time to get up. By then, I had a hard time getting to sleep, knowing I had to get up in just an hour.

What a night! Abby was ready to go on her morning walk as usual and didn’t seem tired at all. This is unbelievable! I love you Abby, but I need my sleep!

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Today I went to visit patients at Pleasant Lake Villa and most were happy to see me at this skilled care rehabilitation facility. It is such a big place that we didn't even get to everyone in an hour and a half! This is just my second time going to visit a place like this.

Where are you going, dad? (used by permission)

I especially liked visiting in the game room where the one lady even took my picture! She let my mom take a picture of her and me too so I could show you. She was so excited to see me. I got to see lots of nice people who were eager to pet me and my mom brought along some treats that they could give to me after I sat nice for them to pet me because I like laying down a lot but then the people can't reach me..

See, she's not afraid of dogs now! (used by permission)

There was a young girl who walked around with us, the daughter of one of the staff, who was afraid of dogs. I noticed she didn't come pet me like most kids do but as we visited, she became braver and did pet me eventually. My mom even let her give me a treat and she did! She was a very nice girl and when we left, she said she wasn't afraid of dogs anymore! That made us feel very good! I was glad I could who her there are nice dogs like me around. Woof! Woof!

Friday, August 3, 2012

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

Vet Visit

12+ pounds, I ate too much!

The vet was not happy with Spunky's weight gain of 3 lbs. in 6 months. She won't be eating Manny's food anymore because I won't be leaving it out through the day.

Abby, our dog who takes hour long walks, has severe arthritis in her knees and hips, in fact, they said if she were younger they'd recommend a total hip replacement! She is now on Metacam and are considering monthly injections of Adequan. It's very expensive though, anyone have any experience with this?

Fun Quiz

I took a fun quiz at BrainFall.com and learned I am like a St. Bernard:

You are a St. Bernard. You are a diligent worker. You are the one that usually takes on the tougher of jobs. Combined with your courage, you are a remarkably admirable companion.

Blog Feed to Email

I learned from Mama's Losin' It how to control the time of my email feed for my blogs and how to include the name of my latest blog post in the subject line. When making these changes, I found out I only have 8 subscribers to this blog and 6 for my book blog. Subscribing by email is a convenient way to get your absolute favorite blog postings delivered right to your mail box. How about trying it out on mine!

Comments For Charity

For June and July we received 416 comments so donated $208 to the Wounded Warrior Project! Wow! Thanks to all who comment! Our charity for August and September is Best Friends.

We Get To Vote! (updated 8/4/12)

You can vote now for who you think is the best entry in Synchronized Snoozing (we voted for Chloe and Moe)

○ One tip I would give to someone who needs to have this in their life would be to have a place for everything and have everything in its place.

○ It begins with an “o.”

The answer is . . . organization. People often remark how organized I am, but it just comes naturally to me. I think it’s partly because I was raised in an orderly home, not that everything was always spotless, but we had routines and it was usually calm without much noise or drama.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

I'm excited to go inside so that's why I am not looking at the camera.

Okay mom, I'm looking--now can we go in?

I had a fun new adventure last Sunday when I went to visit patients (and staff) at the Legacy Place, also called Pleasantview Care Center. It's a place for people who need skilled care, rehabilitation or long term care. I rode in an elevator which was a little bit scary, but better than doing the stairs my daddy said. Lots of people welcomed me and stopped to pet me in the hallways. We visited the dining room and met lots of nice people there who were in chairs with wheels! I had to be careful they didn't roll on my tail or feet but no one did. One lady said I looked just like her dog and was very excited to pet me. Another man in that was strapped into a wheelchair was very happy to see me because I reminded him of his dog too. He had a hard time reaching down to touch me though because of the strap but he did it.

Beaded Bracelet for my Mom

We walked around the whole place visiting different people in their rooms too. Two of the people even had Milk Bone treats for me! They really got my attention then!!! Some others said they would have some for next time I come. Judy gave my mom a nice beaded bracelet even. Most of the people were very nice and were very glad we came to visit them. They were impressed with how nice I am and gave me lots of praise and compliments. I did a lot of walking, sitting, laying and even got some belly rubs!

I am scheduled to go back again in two weeks, but this Saturday I get to go to another place for the first time--Pleasant Lake Villa. If you were in a place like this, wouldn't you like to be visited by a nice dog like me? Woof! Woof!

P.S. Sorry there are no pictures of me really in action with the patients but mom didn't think it would be a good idea to ask to take their picture until we get to know them better.